NiGHTS: Dreams of Light
by supertinagirl6
Summary: Two dreamers Elise and Derek travel to Nightopia and meet the kind and playful NiGHTS. On their quest they meet the brave nightmaren Eric and the mysterious nightmaren Illia. They learn which side Illia is exactly on and what's between NiGHTS and Reala.
1. Elise, Illia, and the Dream Gate

NiGHTS: Dreams of Light

Chapter 1

Elise came running home as quickly as possible. Laughing as her long blond hair flowed the air as she ran. She wore an aqua green dress that cut off at the top of her knees and she wore blue tights underneath and white dress shoes upon her feet. She finally stopped and turned toward something heading for her. The sun shine made her green eyes sparkle with magnificence. She stopped and let a young seven year-old girl caught up to her. The young girl wore a long pink sleeved sweater that draped over her hands and a white skirt with black shoes.

"Lily will you ever keep up with me?" the playful twelve year-old girl asked. "Sorry big sis." Lily coughed. Elise smiled and leaned down to her younger sister's level smiling at her. "It's okay." she laughed. The two continued laughing until Elise froze and gasped. Instantly her surroundings became black and a cold wind entered. She turned around and saw a bunch of kids with dark evil faces with glowing red eyes. "Your sister is stupid!" one smirked. "Yeah she has asthma and has to stop five seconds for a breath!" the other laughed.

Elise could see past the kids that more kids were beating on her sister. "Try breathing now!" one yelled as he punch the young girl. "LILY!" Elise cried out with tears streaking down her face. The red eyed kids blocked her from reaching her sister and glared at her. "What are you gonna do loser?" one asked in a dark tone. "You gonna beat up us? Ha!" Elise fell to her knees with fear filling her. She never did like to fight so when she was always faced with these situations she would ran away in fear. She cradled herself crying as she look up at the kids all laughing at her. Finally she couldn't stand it anymore so she screamed as loud as she could. The kids instantly transformed into dark shadow creatures with evil grins.

Elise saw this and quickly got to her feet and took off running. She looked back and saw the creatures were still after her. All of the sudden she tripped in the darkness. She tried to get up until she saw a figure approaching her. She couldn't she what it was since it was hiding in the shadows. All she could see was two glowing green eyes full of hate and fear. Elise backed up in fear of seeing this figure's eyes. The figure snarled at the young girl and lifted one of their hands showing the long deadly claws on it. Elise whimpered in fear as the figure got closer. Before the figure could attack a bright light appeared out of no where. The figure stared at the light until it backed up and ran away.

Elise got to her feet now staring at the light. She loved the warm presence it gave her and how it seemed to comfort her. Loving the feeling so much Elise decided to run toward the light to escape the darkness. She kept running until she didn't feel ground anymore. Elise saw that she was now falling through a rainbow of stars. She kept falling until finally she landed softly on solid ground. Elise gasped in awe as she saw before her was a beautiful fountain surrounded by empty doors frames. Elise took a few steps through the gate cautiously making sure it was safe. She sighed in relief until she heard a voice say "Hoo. Welcome Visitor."

Elise quickly turned around to see a brown owl wearing a red vest and glasses. "Don't worry my dear. I bring you no harm." the owl said. Elise was instantly shocked. "You can talk?" she asked in a bewildered voice. "Why of course I can." he replied in a confused voice. Elise went crossed eyed for a minute from confusion but finally shook her head and asked "Who are you anyway and where are we?" "Hoo! I am Owl and the place we are right now is the Dream Gate." he replied. "Dream Gate?" Elise asked. She took a few steps foward looking at her surroundings again. When she turned back to Owl she asked "Dream Gate? So this is a dream?" "Not exactly." he replied "The Dream Gate is the entrance to Nightopia, a world that you can only go to when you're fast asleep. But that doesn't mean the world itself doesn't exist. It's a dimention that your consciness travels to when you go to sleep."

"Ah! Now I get it!" she exclaimed. But before she could make another step a purple jester flew past her instantly. "Sorry you have to listen to the old bird. He can bore you to death by talking." Elise figured by how femine this jester looked and how the it had a female voice that it was a girl. "Who are you?" Elise asked in amazement. "I'm NiGHTS." she replied to the young twelve year-old. Finally NiGHTS landed infront of the girl with a smile. Before Elise could speak they heard an evil laugh. NiGHTS stood in a fighting stance and grit her teeth. "Reala!" she growled. Elise backed up in fear from what she saw looked like a red jester wearing a persona over his eyes. "What do you want Reala?" NiGHTS demanded in an anger voice. A smirk formed on Reala's voice as he replied "Master Wizeman isn't after you today. Another traitor has been seen around here and he ordered me to take them back to Nightmare."

NiGHTS lowered her fighting stance but only by a bit. "But since you're here might as well capture you and take you back to Master Wizeman." he smirked. NiGHTS clenched her fists in anger. "Figured you were going to say that." she smirked back. The two took to the air and began to fight. NiGHTS tried to use a drill dash on Reala but he easily dodged. He flew at NiGHTS at full speed with his claws out in front of him. NiGHTS tried to dodge but Reala's claws caught her arm. NiGHTS yelled in pain as she gripped her arm trying to stop the blood that just emerged from her wound. Reala froze a second in shock as he stared at NiGHTS' wound. Finally he shook his head and slammed NiGHTS to the ground. "NiGHTS!" Elise cried out in worry. NiGHTS tried to get up but colasped back onto the ground.

Reala landed next to NiGHTS body and began to laugh. "Honestly NiGHTS usually you put up more of a fight but this time you were too easy to beat. Honestly I expected more of a fight." "Then how about fighting me?" an unknown voice said. Both Elise and Reala looked around until Elise saw a figure walked out from a tree. The figure had it's eyes closed. An evil smile formed on Reala's face. "Ah so that's where you've been hiding. Very unlike you." "Oh please Reala." the figure smirked. "I never hide from people. I hide to attack at the most unsuspecting momment." At that momment the figure's eyes shot wide open. Elise gasped seeing the figure had glowing green eyes excepting these eyes were filled with good and comfort. "Then let's fight shall we?" Reala commented. "Gladly." the figure replied. The figure in a flash emerged from the shadows of the trees revealing to be a green jester.

She wore a slender green jump-suit, red boots that had gold outlines and soles, an apple green jacket that had white sleeves that were loose at the bottom of them and also had gold designs on the edges of her jacket. She had light colored skin and her jester hat was green with two horns that drooped down close to her back making it act like hair. Upon her chest was a giant red jewel that glowed sometimes. Finally on her hands she wore forest-green glowes with tiny flaps on the end that stuck out. She flew at top speeds at Reala with her fist in front of her. She made contact with Reala's jaw making it pop slightly upon impact. When she tried to paraloop him he grabbed her leg and slung her into a tree. The green jester recovered quickly even though she coughed up some blood. "My dear cousin you're still very hard headed I see." he smirked.

"Cousin?!" Elise gasped to herself. The green jester wiped the blood away from he mouth and replied "That maybe true but remember I still have my tricks." She began to drill dash right toward him. Reala easily dodged the spinning jester but what he couldn't dodge was her sneak attack. Right as he dodged her she created a giant green crystal out of no where and shot it at Reala. It smashed him to the ground and gave him many injuries. When he tried to get up he winced slightly from the pain running through his body. He grabbed ahold of his arm and made a smirk toward the green jester. "Well I see you still have you're fighting skills." The green jester put her hands on her hips and replied "And that is why I'm better than you dear cousin." Reala snarled at the green jester and left.

Finally the green jester walked over to NiGHTS smirking at her. "You know Reala is right. Usually you do put up more of a fight. But I think I know why you went easy on him this time." she smirked. NiGHTS looked up in shock at the jester. "Illia?!" she exclaimed still in shock. Elise and Owl came over to the two. Even they were surprised NiGHTS knew this green jester. "I haven't seen you before." Owl commented. "Oh that's because I've been hiding all this time. Haven't revealed myslef until now." she replied. Elise stared at Illia for a few seconds until she asked "Have I seen you before?" Illia was quiet upon this and finally answered "No we have never met." Illia turned toward and NiGHTS and her smirk returned. "Why are you here?" NiGHTS asked. Illia continued smirking and answered "Well that's a secret. Anyway lets fix that wound of her."

Just like before she formed a crystal in her hand except this one was as small as your hand. She blew on it causing it to glow a bright green and then she gently placed it on NiGHTS cut. NiGHTS winced slightly but eased up in the end. When she pulled the crystal away the cut in NiGHTS arm was gone. She tossed up the crystal and caught it in her hand again. She turned to Elise saying "Healing crystals always come in handy." Elise wanted to ask Illia more questions until she noticed something that wasn't there before. A door. "Where did that door come from?" she asked. Owl gasped in shock and said "If that door is there that must mean you have and ideya." "Ideya?" Just then Elise's hands began to emit a crimson glow. "You have the ideya of courage!" Illia yelled in shock.

Elise stared at her hands in confusion. "You mean I brought forth that door?" she asked. "Yes indeed you did." Owl replied. "You see ideya is a part of your heart. Orginally there's five but luckily you've managed to hold on to the ideya of courage." Before Owl could continue Illia yawned in boredom. "Are you always like this!" Owl scolded her. "Hey Reala is my cousin. What did you expect?" she smirked. NiGHTS shook her head. She turned toward Elise and said "Come on let's see what's behind that door to your dream world." Elise nodded happily in agreement. NiGHTS smiled and took off as Elise walked to the door. "Hey wait up you two!" Illia shouted as she took to the sky. Elise opened the door watching as the blinding light began to leak out. She began to walk foward the door. Before the light engulfed she thought about Illia and how the thought kept haunting her that see saw her before.


	2. Confessions, Derek and Eric

Chapter 2

Elise opened her eyes to find herself in a never ending grass field. There were no trees, no rocks, no mountains, no rivers. Just grass stretching on and on and a everlasting blue sky. Elise gasped in awe as she felt her heart fill with the greatest joy she had ever felt. She laid down in the grass and looked to the sky. She noticed there wasn't any clouds but surprisingly she didn't care. Elise ran her fingers through the long grass and sighed in relaxation. Finally she got up and walked over to NiGHTS which turns out was watching Elise the entire time. Elise began to giggle and she spun around in a circle, letting her aqua green dress sway as she did. With her arms swung out she let out one last laugh and finally returned her attention back to NiGHTS. But she couldn't stop giggling to herself for how overjoyed she was at the moment.

"This place is amazing!" she exclaimed. "But it feels empty."

"Ha! No kidding!" Illia smirked as she landed next to NiGHTS.

NiGHTS sighed and shook her head at Illia. When it comes to Illia she can be cruel at times. Illia stared at NiGHTS blankly, acting like she wasn't even aware of what she said. NiGHTS took another sigh and turned back to Elise.

"Nightopia reflects the heart of the visitor." she started. "So when you're in one of your dream worlds and get a certain feelings that mean it's inside of your heart."

Elise froze not in shock but in sadness. It's true there was emptiness in her heart. Sure she had her family. But the reason she has emptiness is because of how she's always afraid that once someone treats her nicely they would turn around and be cruel to her. That's why she always takes caution in meeting people to make sure she won't get her feelings hurt by them. But she hates she has to ignore the longing in her heart for a friend. NiGHTS become worried when she saw Elise was still frozen in sadness. Illia on the other hand only showed little concern but still not a lot. Elise finally blinked a few times and placed her hand on her heart.

"My heart is empty." she said very slowly. Finally she shook her head and turned toward NiGHTS. She smiled bu yet said nothing. But just then a sound let off. Illia instantly put herself in a fighting stance. Before she could react Reala appeared out of no where and caught Illia by the throat.

"I see you still are slow on reflexes." he smirked toward her. Elise was frozen in fear as she watched Illia try to escape Reala's death grip.

"Ha! For a level one nightmaren I see you still depend on sneak attacks." she chocked. Reala snarled at his cousin and turned his attention toward NiGHTS. Elise noticed Reala was staring at NiGHTS in that strange way again. Elise couldn't figure why Reala stares at NiGHTS after all she has only been there for five minutes.

"NiGHTS I need you to come with me." he started.

"Forget it Reala I'm not..."

"I'm not taking you to Wizeman. I just need to talk to you alone."

When Illia heard this a smirk formed on her face despite she was being chocked at the moment. Elise on the other hand became more confused than ever. NiGHTS remained silent not saying a word. Finally she took a deep sigh and walked up to Reala.

"I'll go with you if you swear you don't take me to Wizeman." she answered.

"I promise I won't."

Reala turned his attention back to Illia. He snapped his fingers making a cage appear. He flew up to it and threw Illia into it. This made Illia angry of course but she just shrugged and her smirk returned. Reala flew back down to NiGHTS and took a hold of her hand. Elise showed NiGHTS her worried face to try to tell her not to go with Reala. NiGHTS gave her a gentle smile trying to show her it'll be okay. Though NiGHTS still had doubts about Reala another part of her told her she could trust him. When Reala made the portal appear NiGHTS took one last look back to Elise and finally entered the portal with Reala. Who knows where it went to.

Meanwhile a young twelve year-old boy named Derek was running as fast as he could. Children with dark faces and blood red eyes were chasing him through the streets of the city. He had short, shaggy brown hair and he wore a red shirt, blue vest, black pants, and brown shoes. His blue eyes darted behind him to see he was still being chased. His heart began racing faster and faster as he continued running from his pursuiers. He slammed his eyes shuts as the kids kept constantly yelling and laughing at him. Derek ran and ran as he watched his background turn black and a cold wind entered. The kids morphed into dark shadow creatures with evil grins. Derek was becoming exhausted but his fear refused to let him stop. Finally a burst of light appeared out of no where. The shadow creatures fled from the light instantly. Loving the warmth and comfort it gave Derek began to run toward it in an effort to escape the darkness.

After falling the rainbow of stars Derek landed on solid ground. Derek took a few steps foward exmaining what was in front of him. He saw a beautiful fountain surrounded by empty door frames. Before he could explore this mysterious place he heard what sounded like a piano playing. Enchanted by the wonderful music he decided to go and discover it's source. He found himself wondering deep into the woods as he continued following the piano music. Finally Derek discovered what was making that music. He saw a silver and black colored jester like creature. It's skin was pale white and it wore a silver vest, black pants, silver and black boots, a silver belt, and black armlets. His jester hat had silver and black strips with two horns that extended outward from it's head and at the end point inward toward it's head. Derek was instantly confused when he saw the silver jester acted like it was playing a piano yet and music was playing but yet there was no piano there at all. The silver jester finally stopped playing and turned toward Derek. The twelve year froze in fear when this happened.

"Why hello there." it greeted him in a kind voice. Derek knew instantly because of the muscles and the voice that it was a boy.

"Who would you might be now?" he asked in the same kind voice.

"Um I'm Derek." he answered cautiously.

"Derek now. Hmm that's defaintly a good name." The jester extended his hand toward the tweleve year old. "The name's Eric."

Back with NiGHTS and Reala turns out that portal led to a hidden area in Memory Forest that no one knew about. Not even Helen. The only one that knew about it was Reala. NiGHTS began to get nervous. Reala hadn't said a single word ever since they left Illia and Elise. Reala flew over to a spot with his arms crossed and his eyes closed. NiGHTS was confused by this and slightly annoyed Reala was talking to her. Finally he took a deep sigh and opened his eyes. He flew over to NiGHTS still not saying a word. But what Reala did next almost made NiGHTS stop breathing. Her eyes widened as Reala gentely brushed her cheek with the back of his clawed hand. He glanced down at NiGHTS torn sleeve which she hadn't fixed. Reala took his free hand and grasped her arm. He closed his eyes again and took another deep sigh.

"NiGHTS I-I'm sorry for injuring you in that last battle." he finally said. NiGHTS' froze in shock instantly. She knew Reala had never appoligized to anyone before.

"Reala I..." but NiGHTS never got to finished because Reala shushed her.

He released NiGHTS' arm and placed his hand around her back. NiGHTS began to hold her breath as Reala pulled her closer to him. Reala and NiGHTS stared into each other's eyes until they did the most shocking thing. They leaned in close and kissed. They were shocked at first until they began to ease up and turn it from a light kiss into a deep passionate kiss. They stayed like that for a while until finally they both pulled back. NiGHTS smiled a loving smile at Reala. But then her hand edged up and began slowly peeling off Reala's persona. His first instinct was to stop her but a second thought told him to go ahead and let her take it off. When she took it off she let it drop to the ground and moved her hand up where she laid it on Reala's cheek.

"I missed your face." she said in a gentle voice. Reala smiled and gentlely kissed NiGHTS on the lips.

"I know you did." he replied.

NiGHTS sighed in pleasure as her and Reala laid on the grass. He had his arms wrapped around her and she lay on his chest. A smirk formed on Reala's face as he glanced up at NiGHTS. SHe knew instantly was running through his mind.

"Reala no." she said in a serious tone.

"Oh come on. You know you want to." he smirked.

NiGHTS as she saw Reala began tracing the red ideya on her chest using his index finger. NiGHTS wanted to pull away yet at the same time she didn't. Reala glanced up at NiGHTS again with the same smirk.

"Do you want me to stop?"

NiGHTS quivered and finally answered "No. Don't ever stop." Reala laughed at bit to himself and finally kissed NiGHTS passionately on the lips.

Back with Illia and Elise, the young twelve year old was still trying to figure how to free Illia even through she told her how to do it five times already.

"Look you just climb up the chain and dualize with me and grab the key. It's that simple!" Illia groaned.

Elise forwned and shook her head still not believing it was that simple and was afraid what daulizing was.. Illia slapped her face and groaned. Apparently it was going to be a long time before she gets out of that cage.


	3. Keys, Rules, and Sleds

Chapter 3

"Okay I finally decided that you were right. If I want to free from the cage I have to climb into it, dualize, and grab the key." Elise said.

"Wow gee and it only took three hours to finally realize that." Illia said in a sour tone.

Elise frowned seeing Illia was pretty ticked. After all no one would be happy from being stuck in a cage for three hours. Elise grabbed onto the chain and looked up. She estimated that Reala had put the cage at least fifty feet off the ground. Taking a deep sigh the began the long climb up the chain. Elise begin to pant as the climb began to get exhausting once she was eighteen feet off the ground. Her hands were aching with pain but she refused to let go. One because she knew she had to reach Illia and two because she didn't want to fall from such a tall height. After a few minutes she finally reached the cage. While she was climbing into the cage Illia was exmaining her hand with out her glove. When she saw Elise climbing into the cage Illia panicked and quickly slipped back her glove back on her hand.

"Okay know what do we do?" Elise asked.

"Now we dualize." Illia answered while holding out her hand. "Just touch my hand and you'll see what I mean."

Elise wasn't sure at first but finally she convinced herself it was okay. As soon as she touched Illia's hand a bright light flashed before her eyes. She squeezed them shut from how bright it was. When she opened her eyes she begin to panic she was transparent.

"Ahh! I'm a ghost!" she screamed.

"You are not ghost." Illia groaned. "We are daulized. We control each other's bodies now."

Elise blinked a few times before moving her arm and seeing Illia did too. Finally everything clicked in her mind.

"Now let's get the key." Illia smirked.

They flew over to the Goodles and they began to panic when they saw Illia. Finally they took off in all sorts of directions. Illia shook her head with the smirk still on her face. She was a about to take off until she was stopped by Elise. She was still worried about NiGHTS. Illia rolled her eyes with the smirk never leaving her face. Elise usually doesn't want friends because she fears in the end they'll hurt her. But deep down she felt she could trust NiGHTS. That she was too kind to hurt other's feelings. Illia on the other hand still made Elise feel uneasy. Also she could never shake the feeling that she saw Illia before.

"Can we go get the key know?" Illia asked.

Elise lowered her head and answered "Yes but... NiGHTS."

Illia placed a hand on Elise's transparent shoulder causing Elise to put her transparent hand on Illia's shoulder since they were dualized.

"Don't worry about NiGHTS. She'll be fine. Believe me."

"But won't she want us to find her soon?"

"Trust me NiGHTS doesn't want to be found for a long and I mean long while." Illia smirked.

Back in the hidden area of Memory Forest NiGHTS was lying on the ground with Reala next to her. She smiled softly as she gazed into Reala's eyes. He gladly returned it and did the same with NiGHTS' eyes. She caressed the side of his face with her . NiGHTS tugged on her vest as she was trying to think of what to say. Finally she thought up something.

"I can't believe you did that." NiGHTS said.

"I still can't believe I did it either." Reala replied.

"Wizeman forbid nightmaren to well you know. Yet you did it with me anyway."

"I know. But it was worth it."

After he said that he slowly brushed NiGHTS' cheek with the back of his hand again. He pulled her closer to him and kissed her on the cheek. Even though he was the most loyal nightmaren to Wizeman turns out he's willing to break some rules for NiGHTS. He traced the gold linings on her red vest with his index finger. NiGHTS sighed wishing her moment with Reala would never end but she knew eventually she would have to go back to Elise and Reala would have to report back to Wizeman. Reala was aware of this as well but the two decided to stay together for a few more minutes.

Back with Eric and Derek they had already went through Owl's long speech and were now in Derek's first dream world. His dream world has a snowy mountain up in the sky. Nightopians were on skis and sleds as they went down the mountain. When they would reach the bottom there they landed on a ski lift to take them back to the top of the mountain for them to slid back down again.

"This reminds me of my family went on a ski trip." Derek said in a happy voice.

"It does now?" Eric asked with interest.

"Yeah. Me and my dad would race each other done the hill. I always had a good time." Derek trailed off at the end.

"Well the nightopians are having a race so why don't you enter." Eric suggested.

"Really!"

"Sure and I'll help. Daulize with me and I'll help you win the race. Just touch my hand and we'll start."

Derek nodded and touched Eric's hand. Just like before with Elise and Illia the two instanly dualized with each other. Eric reached into his pocket and pulled out a black persona with white fur on it and silver jewels.

"How's that going to help us win?" Derek asked.

"You'll see." Eric answered as he placed on the persona.

With in an instant Eric took the shape of a white polar bear with black markings and a silver vest. The same persona was over his eyes even as a polar bear. Derek was surprised that the persona gave Eric that ability. The took their starting place at the starting line. With in an instant the race started. Eric zoomed past the other competetors since he was a polar bear and they fast when they slid down mountains on their stomach. Derek laughed as he felt the wind race through his hair. No one was able to catch the duo at all. After a couple of super fun minutes Derek and Eric crossed the finish line in 1st place. Eric pulled off the persona and changed back to normal.

"That was amazing!" Derek exclaimed.

"Eh I do it almost all the time." Eric replied.

"Who ever made that persona must be awesome!"

Eric frowned and replied "Just because someone makes something great doesn't mean they are great."

Derek knew instantly that Eric had a strong disliking of whoever made that persona. Derek knew how he felt. Most kids on his rugbee team seemed cool and had aesome stuff they would be a bunch of guys that would say that they are stronger than everyone. Derek always was scared that they me right about him being weak. In fact he feared the thought of everyone being stronger than him. He was only twelve and wasn't that strong. Everyday he would always go and pick a fight to prove he was stronger but in the end he would always lose and the kids would mock and tease him about it. Even though his dad would tell him there was another way to be strong Derek would never listen. His nightmares were created by the fear that he was too weak. Too weak to do anything great in the world.

Derek was snapped out of his thoughts when Eric tapped him on the shoulder.

"Come on let's go look for your ideya." Eric said while giving a wink at Derek.

Illia and Elise finally got the last key from the last goodle. Illia laughed to herself as she unlocked the cage. Elise was relived that the cage problem was out of the way but soon they had to deal with another. They heard a rustling noise from the grass. Illia grit her teeth and took a fighting stance which caused Elise to do the same since they were still dualized. Out from no where appeared a giant pink spider wearing victorian wear and a crown. Elise shrieked in horror at the sight of the pink spider.

Illia rolled her eyes and said "Oh please. Wizeman is wanting to catch me and he sends a level two nightmaren. Ha! Everyone knows I can easily beat you Bella."

"That's **Queen** Bella!" she snapped.

Elise was terrified of spiders so this didn't make her feel comfortable at all. Elise tried to run away but she got a death glare from Illia.

"Don't you dare run cause that'll cause me to run since we're dualized!" she snapped.

"Still have a strong dislike of visitors I see!" Bella laughed.

"Oh shut up Bella!"

"That's **Queen** Bella! **Queen** Bella!"

Illia rolled her eyes at the nightmaren. Bella made her metal web platforms appear and leapt up on the third level platform. She shot her web balls at Illia which she easily stopped. Illia let out a yawn before drill dashing the web ball at the platforms Bella was on. Bella quickly jumped back before the platforms she was on was destroied by the web ball. This time she shot three all at once at Illia. With a smirk on her face Illia created three giant crystals and slung them at the web balls causing them to fly in the direction they came from. With a look of panic on her face Bella took a giant leap to the next platform.

"I'm surprised that your boyfriend isn't here." Bella smirked.

"Eric is not my boyfriend! We're just friends!" Illia snapped.

Elise was curious of who Eric was but her thoughts were bursted by seeing a lava rock was heading for them. Elise knew Bella must have shot it because she would know that Illia would be to busy arguing with her to notice.

"Illia watch!" Elise yelled as she made Illia's body quickly catch the lava rock.

Illia was shocked even as Elise drill dashed the lava rock back at Queen Bella. She jumped onto the remaining platform.

"You will never beat me!"

"Is that right now?" a voice from behind said.

Bella turned around to see NiGHTS drill dashing into her and knocking her into the lava.

"NiGHTS!" Elise exclaimed with joy as she and Illia undualized.

NiGHTS flew down to them with a smirk on her face.

"Bella is always too easy to beat." she said.

"Ha! All level two nightmaren are easy to beat." Illia smirked.

Elise looked over toward the lava.

"Is she gone now?" she asked.

"Yes but she will be back." NiGHTS answered.

Elise nodded in understandment. If Bella came back this time she would be ready for them. Illia had a smirk on her face to show NiGHTS that she knows exactly what happened between her and Reala. NiGHTS gave Illia a glare to show her to stay out of it. Just then they heard insane laughing.

"No! Please not him." Illia groaned.

They turned around to see a nightmaren with a orange cape, orange shoes, gloves, an orange hat with two horns that went upward from his head and at the end curved toward his face. He had no body but he had two red eyes and a twisted grin where his face would be.

"Jackle." Illia and NiGHTS groaned in unision.

"Aw so you do remeber my name." Jackle laughed.

"I was hoping you would be dead by now." Illia groaned.

"Don't be like that especially when I have a trick up my cape." Jackle smirked.

Just then he pulled out an ace of diamonds cards and threw it at Elise. It opened a hole in the ground. Elise fell into it while she screamed.

"Elise!" NiGHTS yelled as the hole closed up.

Jackle laughed as he said "Ace of diamonds creates portals."

"Oh sure now you learn how to make portals." Illia said in a sarcastic tone. "It took you eighteen years for you to finally learned it while me, NiGHTS, Reala, and Eric learned it in one day."

Jackle glared at Illia saying "You better take that back."

Illia formed a smirk on her face which made Jackle's glare go away.

"You know what was one of the things me and my cousin Reala shared in common?"

Jackle shook his head nervously.

"We both loved hitting the crap out of you."

Jackle gulped, knowing what Illia was planning to do. NiGHTs was laughing when she knew what Illia was going to do.

Elise opened her eyes to see she wasn't in her dreamworld anymore. Now she was in a nightopa that looked like it was underwater. Fish was swimming all over the place. Elise breathed in seeing that in this nightopia she could breathe under water. Elise was trying to figure where she was until she heard something. She turned to she a twelve year old girl with blond hair in a pony tail, blue eyes. She was wearing a white blouse, pink dress jacket, a black skirt with black tights underneath, and brown shoes on her feet. She extended a hand out to Elise and helped her up.

"Hello. Who would you might be?" she asked.

"I'm Elise. And you are?" Elise said.

"My name is Helen." she replied in a happy voice.


	4. Friends, Love, and Spirits

Chapter 4

Elise followed Helen as she guided her through Aqua Garden. Elise was so amazed by the beauty and wonder that filled this nightopia's of Helen's. Elise eventually got over the surprise that even though her and Helen were underwater they weren't able to get wet. Helen even told Elise about her two other nightopia's, Crystal Castle and Memory Forest. Elise was so overjoyed by her conversation with Helen. She was even more overjoyed to learn that Helen knew NiGHTS too. But she admitted to Elise that she never met Illia before. Elise just then noticed something. Helen was being like a friend to her. Just like NiGHTS something told Elise that she could trust even though she usually doesn't make friends to avoid being hurt. But now Elise was beginning to open up and unafraid to be friendly but she still had her fear slightly.

"You know I never seen Jackle before either." Helen finally stated which snapped Elise out of her thoughts.

"Oh. Well It seems NiGHTS and Illia knew him." she replied.

"Well consider yourself lucky it wasn't Reala."

Elise just then froze in shock. Helen saw this and that told her instantly that Elise had already had a run in with Reala.

"So you did end up meeting him." Helen said.

"First at the Dream Gate and second at my nightopia Pleasure Plains."

Pleasure Plains is what Elise finally decided to name her nightopia. She called it Pleasure Plains for how it seemed to give her the feeling of pleasure when she was there and the fact that there was nothing else but plains.

"He was after NiGHTS after first but the second time he said he wanted to talk to her alone." Elise said.

Helen became instantly confused by this and wondered why Reala would want to talk to NiGHTS. Of course Elise and Helen had no kind of idead of what might have happened since they're pretty clueless on what was going on between NiGHTS and Reala. Finally the two tweleve year-olds reached the door that lead back to the Dream Gate. Elise thanked Helen and waved goodbye before going through the door. Once she was back at the Dream Gate she quickly ran to the door that lead to her nightopia Pleasure Plains and entered it. When she entered she saw Jackle zoom past her with a look of panic. She turned head to see NiGHTS shaking head with a sigh and Illia laughing out loud. Just then the two noticed Elise.

"Elise your alright!" NiGHTS exclaimed.

Elise ran over to them with a smile on her face.

"That hole I fell in sent me Aqua Garden were I met Helen."

"Who's Helen?" Elise asked in a dull tone.

NiGHTS answered "It's a child vistor I helped in the past."

Illia mouthed the word "Oh." and took a sitting position where she leaned on her arm that was supported by her leg which was crossed over the other one while her other arm rested on top of her crossed legs. Elise still tried to get use to the fact that NiGHTS and Illia can sit in a sitting position while still floating off the ground.

"Okay let's go find your ideya." NiGHTS told Elise while holding out her hand.

Elise nodded and touched it causing her to dualize with NiGHTS.

"You guys go look for the ideya. I'm going back to the Dream Gate and will be back after a while." Illia said.

NiGHTS nodded which of course caused transparent Elise to nod too. The two took off and Illia flew back to the Dream Gate. As Elise and NiGHTS searched for the ideya NiGHTS couldn't stop thinking about Reala. Every single time she tried to focus on the current task she thought of Reala again. It was unaware to her that she had a face of pleasure on her face as she thought about Reala. Elise saw this but decided to not to say anything about it.

Meanwhile back with Eric and Derek they were still looking for Derek's ideya. They searched and searched but still couldn't seem to find it.

"Eric?" Derek asked. "Can we take a break from looking for the ideya?"

Eric thought about it and undualized with Derek.

"Okay you can play around here for a while but make sure you come back to the Dream Gate before the awakeners come because if they catch they'll make you wake up." he said.

Derek nodded in understandment. Seeing Derek was clearly aware of what he was told Eric flew back to the Dream Gate. When he landing next to the fountain he was about to play on his invisible piano until he saw something. There he saw across from him was Illia leaning against a tree, staring at the sky. With a smirk on his face he flew up behind Illia and quickly wrapped his arms around her. Illia spun around to meet his face and formed a smirk on her face too.

"Must you always do that Eric?" she asked in a playful tone.

"Yeah becuase you're too beautiful to ignore." he smirked.

Illia shook her head with a smile. Instantly she got out of his arms and zoomed up in the air.

"If I'm so beautiful you'll come after me!" she laughed.

Eric laughed as he flew after her. He chased her deep in the forest while both were still laughing. Finally near the lake he caught her."

"Got ya!" he laughed as he tackled her. They were rolling on the ground from the landing caused by Eric tackling Illia. When thye stopped Eric quickly leapt up and pinned Illia underneath him.

"Eric get off!" she laughed

"I caught you so what makes you think I'm going to get off." he smirked.

Illia smiled as she wrapped her arms his back and Eric wrapped his arms around her waist. Finally Eric kissed Illia gently on the lips. Illia closed her eyes, moving one of her hands from Eric's back to his head and turned the kiss into a passionate one. They stayed like that for three minutes until finally pulling apart.

"You know I have some time to kill so we could do something." Illia smirked.

"I like that idea." Eric smirked back.

They both returned back to their passionate kiss which would end up leading to something else.

Back with Elise and NiGHTS they continued searching for the ideya. Just then Elise spotted something. She noticed these strange creatures. They all looked like beatiful women except there skin was as white as snow. They had long elegant hair except each one had different colored hair. Not natural hair color like brunette or blond but bright vibrant colors like green, pink, yellow, and all the colors you can think of. They wore long elegant dress that had long strings of crystals to make up the dress. Elise noticed that the creatures had no sign of feet. Infact they had no sign of legs either. They did have hands and arms. On their arms they wore long elegant gloves that sparkled with crystals. Their face had sparkling markings that were made of glitter. Elise could also see they had the ability to fly since they floating off the ground.

"NiGHTS what are those?" Elise asked.

"Oh those are Color Spirits." NiGHTS answered.

"Color spirits?"

"Yeah. It pretty rare to see one since most people don't ever get to see them."

"What do they do?" Elise asked in amazement.

"Well you see they're the ones that give Nightopia it's color. Using the light they give vibrant colors to each of the nightopias."

Elise watched in amazement as she saw the Color Spirits. Soar through the light and where they flew there was brighter more vibrant colors. Finally the Color Spirits flew off to bring vibrant colors to another nightopia.

"That was amazing!" Elise exclaimed.

"Sure was and who knew you would end up one of the lucky ones to get to see them." NiGHTS said.

Elise smiled with happiness and they continued back on their search for her ideya.

Back in Memory Forest Reala was sitting on a tree branch hidden deep within the tree's leaves so no one could see him. His arm lay across his knee which he had up. In his other hand he held on tightly to his persona. Reala let out a rough sigh as he thought about NiGHTS. Usually his main focus would be always totry to take her back to Wizeman but now he doesn't want to take her back against her will since Reala is now in love with NiGHTS just as much as she is in love with him. Reala help but smirk to himself thinking NiGHTS' beauty and that special moment that they both shared in the hidden area of Memory Forest. He glanced down at his persona in his hand.

"Soon I'll make everything work out." he muttered to himself.

Derek was tracking through the snow in his nightopia making sure to stay close to the door so that when the awakeners show up he can easily get to the Dream Gate where they can't get him. Just then he noticed something sparkling in the distance. Curious of what it was he walked off in that direction. When he got to the spot he saw the shinning object he noticed something was burried underneath the snow. He uncovered it to discover the most shocking thing. The white ideya of purity. Right as he was about to pick it up he herad something. Out of no where appeared a giant green chameleon lizard wearing a pink top hat, pink jacket, had no lower legs, and carrying a magician's wand. Derek began to panic slightly because he was never fond of lizards. He swiped the white ideya and stuffed his inside it's jacket.

When he was coming towards Derek all of the sudden he was blinded by snow. Derek didn't know what was going on until a hand was extended out to him. Infront of Derek was a creature that looked like a Color Spirit except this creature had tan skin and had white hair. Instead of the dress and gloves being made out of crystal this creature's dress and gloves were made out of snow.

"Come with me to safety." the creature said in a soft voice.

Derek nodded and took the creature's hand. The creature took to the air with Derek in tow. They kept flying until the creature landed in front of the door that lead back to the Dream Gate.

"Make sure to be more careful." the creature said.

Derek nodded and watched it fly off. Just then Eric finally came back.

"What did I miss?" Eric asked in a dazed voice.

Derek didn't know why Eric was talking like that but he he answered "I found the white ideya then this giant lizard showed up and stole it."

Eric shook his head and said "Oh come on! Not Chamelon!" in an angry tone.

"And before he could get me a strange creature with white hair and a white dress saved me." Derek finished.

Eric stared at Derek in shock.

"You saw a Snow Spirit!"

"Snow Spirit?" Derek asked.

"Yes. Snow Spirits are creatures that give only certain nightopias snow."

Derek was amazed to learn he saw a rare creature.

"But right now we need to get your ideya back from Chamelon." Eric stated.

Derek nodded in agreement. The two dualized with eachother. Derek knew even though he isn't fond of reptiles he still needed to go and get his ideya back. So the two took off flying in the direction Chamelon was last seen to get back Derek's white ideya.


	5. Bosses, Choices, and Ace

Chapter 5

NiGHTS and Elise finally reached their destination. There was Queen Bella in her web with the white ideya of purity. Elise knew she had to get that ideya back at all costs. Both her and NiGHTS took a defensive stance. The background changed to a blood red color and the ground opened up to reveal a giant lava pit. Elise took a deep breath and made the first move. She drilled dashed a lava rock she saw and busted some of the metal web platforms. Bella leapt up from the platforms and shot a web ball at NiGHTS and Elise. NiGHTS swiftly kicked the web ball back at Bella causing it to smack her face. The nightmaren's face turned red with fury.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" she screamed.

She shot five web balls at them. But before it could hit them Illia finally showed back up and created five crystals to deflect them.

"What took you so long?" NiGHTS asked.

"No reason." Illia puffed.

NiGHTS looked Illia over and noticed her jacket was slightly messed up.

"No reason huh." NiGHTS muttered.

Snapping out of her thoughts the three turned toward Queen Bella. Illia glared hard at Bella and flexed her fingers. With in a second Bella summoned tons of lava rocks at them. Elise panicked about the thought of the lava rocks hitting them. But all of the sudden Illia flew at the lava rocks at full speed. She screamed in rage and slashed full force at the rocks. The rocks shattered into tiny pieces and fell down to the lava below. Elise's eyes widened at this. Then Illia turned to Bella and she stared at Illia in fear. Illia's eyes were full of rage and she was breathing deeply. A blackish-green glow surrounded her hands and with in an instant giant crystals bursted forth from the ground and destroyed most of the platforms, leaving Bella with little space to escape to.

With a smirk Illia turned toward NiGHTS and said "She's all yours."

NiGHTS nodded and with that her and Elise flew at full speed at Bella. She tried to attack them by shooting more web balls but NiGHTS and Elise were too quick. Finally the two paralooped Bella, transporting her back to Nightmare. The surroundings in Pleasure Plains changed back to normal and NiGHTS and Elise undualized. At moment the white ideya floated down in front of Elise. With a second though Elise extended her arms out toward the ideya.

"The white ideya of purity. Makes my mind pure so that way I can do what's right." she said in a soft voice.

Gently taking ahold of the ideya, Elise pulled the ideya toward herself and it returned to her heart.

"Alright now let's go back to the Dream Gate so we can go to your next Nightopia." NiGHTS said.

Meanwhile back in Nightmare, the king of nightmares himself Wizeman glared down at Jackle. The giant floating being in the red and blue robes was very dissapointed that Jackle easily got defeated by Illia. Jackle was very nervous since Wizeman had one of his six eyed hands staring Jackle down.

"I told you to make sure the girl did not return to her nightopia!"

"Sorry Master Wizeman but Illia was there and you know how she is." Jackle stated in a nervous tone.

Wizeman let out a frustrated growl. But just then he made his hands form in a ball formation. Reala entered the throne room with his persona on of course. He bowed in respect before his creator.

"Forgive me master for my delayed report. I was preoccupied at the moment."

Reala knew that techniclly he was not lying.

"The report does not matter right now." Wizeman said in a stern voice. "I have decided to use something special for the girl who has now obtained her white ideya."

His hands glowed a bright white and then stopped. He pulled apart his hands to reveal a female nightmaren. She had light colored skin and a black spade symbol over her right eye. She wore a neon orange and white mini dress with a neon orange and white suit jackect over the top of it. She wore white gloves and long black boots with a single white strip on each along with the tips of the boots being neon orange. Around her neck has a gold chain necklace with a spade shaped amulet. Her hat was neon orange with black stripes going up in a zig-zag pattern. She had two horns that extended upward from the top of her head and at the end curved downward toward the back of her head. She opened her eyes to reveal them to be purple.

"This is Ace."

Ace looked all over the place with a blank expression.

"Wow she's pretty." Jackle said in a love struck tone.

Reala rolled his eyes and smacked Jackle's head from behind which caused Jackle to hold his head in pain.. With in an instant Ace bursted out in insane laughter.

"Ha! Your you hit him!" she laughed. "Hey I just learned new words! That's funny!"

Reala stared akwardly at the nightmaren rolling in the floor while laughing insanely before him. Jackle stared at Ace dreamingly thinking of how she's the perfect one for him. But of course this only made Ace laugh more.

"Why are you laughing?" Reala asked in a weirded out tone.

"Because laugh is a joke so I might as well laugh at it!" she laughed.

Reala had no idea how Ace was suppose to take care of things because he figured how can someone who never takes things seriously accomplish anything. With out another word Reala left the room still able to hear Ace's laugh.

"Well at least NiGHTS can handle her." he thought.

Back with Derek and Eric in the nightopia that Derek dubbed "Sweet Snow Mountain" the two reached the top of the snowy mountain to discover Chamelan with the white ideya. Before they could react Chamelan swung his wand and transported them to his trick zone. The trick zone was a gray void with giant, floating question marks. Chamelan laughed at the two before dissappearing.

"Where did he go?" Derek asked.

"He's hiding in his trick sone." Eric answered.

"How do we find him?"

"Simple all we have to do is paraloop in random areas to create holes. When we find him we attack."

Derek nodded in understandment and the two began to look for Chamelan. They searched and searched, creating many holes around them. When it seemed they would never find him finally they created a hole to discover Chamelan on the otherside. Before he could dissappear again Eric and Derek attacked by drill dashing him. In anger Chamelan flicked his wand and sent his living cards after them. Eric and Derek dodged the swords that were being slashed at them by the cards. Thinking fast Derek and Eric quickly paralooped the cards making them disappear. Finally the two charged at Chamelan. But it was unaware to the two that the nightmaren had one final trick up his sleeve. With in an instant Chamelan shot a ray from his wand at Derek and Eric. The ray had the power to trick the victim into thinking there outnumbered.

To Eric and Derek it looked like there was a trillion copies of Chamelan.

"There's too many Eric!" Derek yelled.

"No this is just one of Chamelan's tricks. You have to break free of it to see what's really there." Eric said through clenched teeth.

Derek closed his eyes and began to focus. He kept telling himself not to believe what he sees but what he feels inside his heart. He opened his eyes to see only Chamelan. He knew instantly he had broken free of the illusion. Before Chamelan could register what had just happened Eric and Derek drilled dashed him, knocking him out.

"We did it!" Derek exclaimed as he and Eric undualized.

They transported back to Sweet Snow Mountain and the white ideya appeared before Derek.

"The white ideya of purity. Helps my heart be pure so I can know what's right."

With that said the ideya reentered his heart. The two then headed back toward the Dream Gate so they can head to Derek's next nightopia.


	6. Fireworks, Caves, and Meeting

Chapter 6

Elise, NiGHTS, and Illia had arrived back at the Dream Gate. Elise's hands started to glow red like before, but this time they were glowing white as well. A door frame glowed and within an instant a door appeared in the frame. The twelve year-old girl ran to the door, excited to see what awaited on the other side. She was fixing to enter until she saw NiGHTS and Illia discussing something. Whatever NiGHTS was telling Illia was making her anger. Finally Illia clenched her gloved hands and nodded in agreement.

She flew over to Elise and said "Come on let's go see your Nightopia."

"What about NiGHTS?" Elise asked, with worry in her voice.

"Don't worry." NiGHTS reinsured, "I'll be back I just have to take care of something else right now."

Elise didn't want to really be left alone with Illia due to the fact Illia still won't forget the cage incident and that she feels uneasy around the green jester-like creature. No matter how many times she tries, she just can't shake the feeling that she has seen Illia before. Though despite this Elise trusts NiGHTS, she somehow can feel that NiGHTS would never betray her. So finally the first time ever she gave someone her trust. She trusted NiGHTS would stay true to her word and return. Though Elise is still surprised at herself that she let anyone get this close to her and she can see how with every minute she spends with NiGHTS, the two become the closer of friends. NiGHTS smiled when Elise gave her a nod of understanding. Illia who became tired of waiting quickly took off for the Nightopia.

"Well you better get going. By the looks of it Illia got tired of waiting." NiGHTS said.

Elise quickly ran up the steps that led to the door to her Nightopia. She waved at NiGHTS before opening the door and stepping into the light that leaked out from the door upon opening. She closed her eyes once again from the brightness. She knew she would never get use to that blinding light. When she opened her eyes to her surprise she was underwater. Unlike Helen's Nightopia where despite being underwater it was like they were on dry land, in Elise's Nightopia she could actually tell she was in water and had to swim. She opened her mouth and saw she could breathe underwater which by now was no surprise to her. At that moment she saw beautiful, colorful, coral reefs. Elise swam toward them to get a closer look. She reached out a touched a red one. She gasped in awe when the red fireworks burst from the reef upon her hand making contact with it. Despite it being underwater and clearly daylight, the fireworks exploding the same way they do in the night sky.

"Having fun?" a voice asked.

Elise turned around to see Illia behind her. She saw Illia was holding a dark green mask with red jewels, and apple green fins on the sides of it in her hand.

"Tired of swimming?" Illia asked.

The girl nodded since her limbs were starting to get tired. Instead of answering Illia put on the mask she was holding. In that instant she transformed into a dolphin that had almost a completely green body except the tail fin that was red and had a yellow ring around it. The dolphin had the apple green jacket with white sleeves on and the mask over her eyes. Illia turned toward Elise and used her head to gesture to her dorsal fin. Elise knew Illia was basically telling her to grab ahold of her fin, so she reached out both hands and got a firm grip on the dorsal fin. Seeing Elise had a good grip Illia instantly took off. Elise immediately began laughing for joy as they speed through the clear waters.

Back with Derek and Eric they had arrived back at the dream gate. Just like before with Elise, Derek's hand glowed red and white, causing a door to appear in the once empty frame. Derek was fixing to enter the door until he spotted NiGHTS near the trees. Of course he didn't know who she was due to not meeting her before. Eric flew up to her.

"I see you finally made it." Eric said with a grin.

"Had to take care of another visitor. I came here after I helped her find her first ideya. After all, no visitor's trip to their Nightopia is perfect without ever getting the chance to meet me." NiGHTS smirked.

"Um who are you anyway?" the twelve year-old boy asked.

NiGHTS took a bow before replying "My name is NiGHTS. It is quite the pleasure to meet you. So what would your name be?"

"I'm Derek." he said.

The purple jester-like creature laughed at this. She was laughing at the fact that Eric's and Derek's names rhymed. Derek was confused on what she thought was funny, but decided to brush the thought to the side.

"So are ready to go see your Nightopia?" NiGHTS asked.

Derek nodded his head in response. NiGHTS nodded back and headed to Derek's Nightopia with Eric following behind her. Derek walked up to the door leading to his new Nightopia and slowly opened it. He squinted his eyes from the light coming from the door. Seeing it was too bright just like before he closed his eyes. When he opened them he found himself in underground caves that barely had any light. He didn't know where the different cave tunnels led to due to it being very dark. Deciding to do some exploring he ventured into one of the dark tunnels. The tunnel led into another area of the caves that seemed to have more light than the previous one. Derek was both relieved at the fact he can now see better and that he had a good sense of direction. He looked over to his left and saw NiGHTS and Eric waiting for him.

"So what do you think of your Nightopia?" NiGHTS asked.

"It's awesome, but these caves are pretty dark." he answered.

"Then that's what's in your heart." Eric said.

The boy gave the silver jester-like creature a confused look.

"You see." NiGHTS explained, "Nightopia reflects the heart of the visitor. Your heart shaped this world and made it look like the way it is."

Derek froze upon hearing this. He knew that this meant there was darkness inside his heart and he knew what exactly caused this darkness. When he would constantly try to get strong his friends would try to convince him that he didn't have to prove anything to the bullies. Though every time they did this, he would harshly yell at them and tell them they are not true friends if they don't support him. The more and more fights he got into, the more distant he became with his friends. He even stopped talking to them. As his friends laughed and played rugby, he would sit alone, angry at himself for not being strong. Now looking back he realized how awful he was toward his friends, and how he had no right to act that way toward them.

"Hey Derek are you okay?" NiGHTS asked, she was worried about how quiet he was being.

This awoken Derek from his thoughts and he answered "Yeah I'm fine. Lets go explore more of my Nightopia."

Without another word the three set off to see what surprises this world had in store for them.

Elise stared in amazement at her surroundings. She saw so many colorful reefs, with many different, unique fireworks, and there was even colorful schools of fish as well. She decided to name her dream world Firework Reef for it's colorful reefs that create fireworks when you touch them. Illia came to a sudden stop which almost made Elise fall off of her. The blond haired girl saw there were nightopians laughing and smiling as they were preparing decorations for an event.

"Oh how cute." Elise commented, "They're look like they're preparing for a celebration."

"Ugh. Nightopians. I despise those things." Illia groaned.

"Why? They're cute, so why would you hate them?" she asked.

"Simple, they're annoying. Good thing nightmarens eat them." Illia replied.

"Nightmarens eat those cute little creatures?" Elise exclaimed.

"Don't worry. They taste like chicken." she said with a grin.

Elise gasped in horror at what she just heard. She couldn't believe Illia actually eats them as well. She took another look at them. She saw how cute they looked with their purple shirts and red boots. Even the wings on their backs, the halo upon their heads, and the lovely rosy cheeks made it impossible for Elise to hate any of them. In fact it made her want to scoop one up and give them a big hug. Deciding to change the subject she wanted to find out exactly what they were preparing for.

"What are they doing anyway?" she asked Illia.

"Oh they're just preparing for their fireworks show." Illia replied.

Elise squealed in joy at this, she always loved fireworks shows, with the beautiful lights exploding in the air, raining their radiant colors upon the earth before fading out of sight. Her eyes glistened at the thought of her actually putting together such a show. Illia could figure what the girl was thinking and she rolled her eyes at this.

"Well come on. Let's go attend." she said.

Elise froze when Illia said this. She couldn't believe Illia was actually suggesting to help put together the fireworks show. The tweleve-year old could barely contain her excitement, but then she remembered Illia's comment about the Nightopians.

"Alright we'll go, but you are not to harm any of those cute nightopians." she said in a strict tone.

"Fine." Illia grumbled.

Elise smiled, now she didn't have to worry about the Nightopians. With that they swam to where the show was taking place. All the nightopians were gathered around the coral reefs, awaiting for the show to begin. Elise and Illia nodded to each other before swimming toward the reefs. The show has began. Illia started to kick her dolphin tail fin faster to gain speed. Keeping one hand with a good grip on Illia's dorsal fin, Elise held out her other hand. The girl's hand ran over the colorful reefs as the green dolphin sped through the waters, causing many fireworks to shoot up in the air, creating a beautiful display. The nightopians cheered in joy at the sight. Before Elise could react, Illia instantly did a quick loop. She almost fell off and instinctively grabbed onto Illia's dorsal fin with both hands once again. The bright fireworks exploded all around them, creating a dazzling display. The sight reminded Elise of the annual firework festival that was held in her home Bellbridge. She always loved watching the fireworks with her sister. It was one of many of the precious memories she has with her sister.

"Alright ready for the finale?" Illia asked.

"Yeah!" Elise yelled in happiness.

Illia swam down so Elise could set off the last round of fireworks. When they exploded in the air Illia swam upward with Elise still holding on tightly. She began to drill dash. Elise let go of the dorsal fin, allowing herself to spin away from Illia. When she stop spinning she laughed in joy as the last fireworks exploded around her. The Nightopians jumped up and down, yelling in happiness and joy. Elise swam down to where Illia was already waiting for her.

"That was amazing!" the twelve year-old exclaimed.

"Yeah it was, but we better start searching for your blue ideya." Illia replied.

Elise bit her lip, she had forgotten that was the reason they were there in the first place. Illia ignored this and held out her white flipper. Elise laid her hand on it and the two dualized. With that done the two set off to search for the ideya.

Derek was having no luck so far on finding his ideya. He, Eric, and NiGHTS have been searching for the ideya in his Nightopia that he named Mystery Caves for quite a while now. Sometimes it felt like they were traveling in circles due to how similar the cave tunnels look the same, which was the reason Derek named the Nightopia the name he gave it. Of course NiGHTS and Eric knew better, they knew that visitors were able to always easily navigate their respective Nightopias. They were going to continue to search for the ideya until they heard something. Eric turned and his eyes widened at what he saw.

"NiGHTS! Look out!" Eric yelled as he shoved her away.

As he did this a Goodle had swooped down at them. The nightmaren bird grasped it's talons tightly around Eric's arms. He clenched his teeth as struggled to get loose of the bird's grip. Though it was no use. A gold cage rose into the air. Eric was instantly thrown into the cage. At that moment insane laughter filled the air. NiGHTS thought it sounded similar to Jackle's, but this laugh sounded feminine. Out of the shadows emerged a certain neon orange nightmaren, it was Ace.

"Good work boys, we caught one of the traitors." she said before starting to laugh again.

"NiGHTS who's that?" Derek asked.

"Apparently someone new. Looks like Wizeman is making new nightmaren." NiGHTS replied.

"Wizeman?" he asked in a confused tone.

NiGHTS mentally hit her herself, neither Elise or Derek knew about Wizeman yet. Though she knew if they find out about Wizeman, they'll probably soon discover the fact that she, Eric, and Illia are nightmarens themselves. Despite the fact they are in rebellion against their creator Wizeman, NiGHTS knew that Elise and Derek wouldn't handle it well. She remembered how heartbroken and hurt she was when she saw the betrayed look on Helen's face when Reala revealed to her that her own friend was a nightmaren. She never liked when visitors discovered what she was. The only exception were Elliot and Claris since they were the first visitors she had helped. Straying away from her thoughts she focused on the matter at hand.

"Who are you anyway?" Eric demanded.

Ace was twirling an ace of spades around her fingers. She let out a giggle before turning toward them.

"I'm Ace. Master Wizeman's newest level two nightmaren." she replied with a giggle.

Derek was confused why the neon orange nightmaren would laugh or giggle at every little single thing. Ace gave them a huge grin and threw the card she was holding up in the air. It transformed the area of the cave in a giant floating card that had giant prank gags everywhere. Ace was standing on a giant seltzer bottle, laughing insanely.

"Derek quickly dualize with me." NiGHTS said.

Derek laid his hand on NiGHTS' and they dualized. Eric was on one side of the room still in his cage. The three Goodles closely circled his cage.

"Are you ready?" NiGHTS asked.

Derek nodded. They both got into a fighting stance. Ace flew off of the seltzer bottle and summoned four ace cards. Her laughter echoed through out the entire arena. The symbols on the aces came off of the cards and flew toward NiGHTS and Derek. They quickly flew up and dodged the attack. The neon orange nightmaren sending the ace card symbols at the two. Instead of dodging them again NiGHTS and Derek drill dashed into them. They spun through the ace of spades symbol, shattering it upon contact.

"Hey that was my favorite symbol! Don't break my stuff!" Ace snapped.

NiGHTS and Derek looked at eachother. Ace had unknowingly revealed the one thing they could use against. Even though she considers everything a joke, the one thing she can't stand is when someone messes with her and her stuff. The purple nightmaren formed a grin on her face. Derek had figured what her idea was. The two quickly flew and paralooped more of the symbols that Ace sent after them. Ace gasped at this before letting out an angry yell. She sent more symbols after the two. Though it did no good since NiGHTS and Derek simply drill dashed through them. Ace placed both hands on top of her head and stared with a horrified look on her face. Seeing she was vulnerable now, Derek quickly made NiGHTS fly and drill dash into Ace. The orange nightmaren tumbled back with a yell. Quickly she placed a giant spade symbol in front of herself for protection.

"Let's finish this NiGHTS!" Derek said.

"Right." NiGHTS agreed.

They flew and NiGHTS used a swift kick to the sheild. The sheild shattered like glass, causing Ace to fall back at this. She let out a scream before hitting the ground hard. Their surroundings changed back to the familiar dark cave area. NiGHTS and Derek landed back on the ground.

"We did it NiGHTS!" Derek said happily.

"We'll I couldn't do it without you." NiGHTS replied.

"NiGHTS I know you're just being modest, there's no way I could have defeated that nightmaren by myself. I'm not strong like you." he said in a quiet voice.

"You know you may not know it, but you're strong too." NiGHTS stated, "Some may not be strong on the outside, but the inside is where the true strength comes from, strength comes from the heart."

Derek remained silent as he let her words sink in. He wondered if that's what his dad meant by there being another way to be strong. Though he snapped out of his thoughts when Ace started to get off from the ground. She glared at them with her purple cat-like eyes.

"How dare you beat me! That was my first battle! I hope you'll get it next time!" she yelled in anger.

Though then the angry look on her face turned into a smile.

"Ha! I'm angry! That's funny!" she laughed before transporting away.

NiGHTS shook her head, she had now idea how Wizeman was capable of making a such a strange nightmaren, though then she remembered this is the same Wizeman that created the insane nightmaren known as Jackle. After snapping out of her thoughts, NiGHTS and Derek turned toward Eric's direction. The Goodles saw this and flew away in fear. The silver nightmaren crossed his arms at this because they were flying away with the key to his cage. NiGHTS undualized with Derek.

"After that battle you need a break. Go ahead and explore your Nightopia while I go get the keys to Eric's cage." NiGHTS said.

"Okay NiGHTS." Derek said.

NiGHTS gave him a thumbs up before flying off to go after the Goodles.

Elise gave a tired sigh, they haven't found her ideya yet. She found it quite strange swimming like a dolphin though she figured there was only stranger to come. With out warning Illia undualized with her an changed back into her normal form.

"Why did you do that?" Elise asked.

Though she got her answer when a familiar red nightmaren appeared before them. Elise hid slightly behind Illia, she was still scared of Reala from their last encounter.

"So Illia I see you got stuck with babysitting the visitor." Reala smirked.

The green nightmaren clenched her fists and hissed "Shut up Reala. I know why you're here."

Illia nodded her head to Elise. The twelve year-old knew she was telling her to get to safety. Elise figured that the green nightmaren didn't think she would be able to handle a fight with Reala. She quickly swam behind a large rock and peeked over it. Seeing Elise was safe Illia turned her attention back to Reala. Without warning the two nightmaren lunged for eachother. Reala manged to punch Illia in the stomach. This angered her and drill dashed into his entire body. The red nightmaren clenched his teetch in angry and created a sphere in his hand. He threw it at her and once it hit her it exploded. Illia flew back a bit with a yell of pain. Elise gasped in worry for her. Fortunately Illia was able to regain her barrings. The green nightmaren glared at Reala in anger. Elise eyes widen when she saw Illia pull off one of her forest-green gloves, Illia never wanted Elsie to see her hands so she never took them off, and when she did like in the cage she would quickly put them back on before she can see. Though twelve year-old didn't quite had a good view so she couldn't see Illia's bare hand clearly.

Though Reala on the other hand knew exactly what the female nightmaren was planning to do. He threw another sphere at her, but she dodged. Illia flew up to Reala and slashed her hand across his chest. He yelled in pain and saw five slashes through his shirt that revealed five cuts on his chest that were bleeding. His cold blue eyes behind the golden persona glared at the nightmaren before him.

"You're going to pay for that." he snarled.

Illia tried to do the same thing, but Reala dodged and brought his leg down on her back. Illia yelled in pain as she hit the sand covered ground.

"Illia!" Elise yelled in worry.

The green nightmaren looked at the girl weakly before looking at the towering rock pile she landed next to. Just then Illia threw one of her crystals near Elise, creating a portal.

"Go! It will lead to safety!" Illia yelled.

"Illia what about..." Elise started.

"Just go!" she yelled in a more strict tone.

She created a crystal and jammed it into the rocks, causing them to collapse.

"Illia!" Elise screamed in horror as the rocks burried the green nightmaren.

The girl saw there was rocks falling towards her. She bit her lip and ran into the portal. The portal closed just as the rocks hit the ground. When they dust cleared there was Reala floating over the rocks. Illia didn't do that to hit him, she did so he couldn't see where the portal that Elise ran through led to. He snarled in anger, upset that the female nightmaren made him lose the ideya he was after. He remembered how he decided after thinking about it in the Memory Forest that he would continue his ways though he will never take NiGHTS to Wizeman unless she wanted to go willingly. He did not want to destroy her feelings for him by forcing her to go,he would protect her even if it meant visiting her secretly. Just then he caught a glimpse of a certain green nightmaren. Illia was unconscious, pinned under the rocks she made collapse. Reala flew down to her and pushed the rocks off of her. His eyes traveled down her arm to her hand.

He picked up her hand and examined it. What Elise didn't see was all this time that Illia wore gloves to hide the long, deadly claws on her fingers. Reala grabbed Illia's other hand and pulled off the remaining glove. He knew why she chose to hide those claws of her's from visitors. She didn't want anyone to find about this little secret of her's. Reala smirked at the thought of how much trouble the female nightmaren goes through to hide this secret from everyone including Eric. The red nightmaren had known about her little secret for a while of course he never bothered to confront her about it. Though he planned on confronting her later, right now he needed to do something. Reala picked Illia up and tossed her onto his shoulder.

"Time to take you to see Master Wizeman." he smirked before heading toward his destination, Nightmare.

Derek continued to travel the dark caves of his Nightopia. So far he had seen nothing interesting. He remembered to keep an eye out for awakeners like how Eric warned him in his first Nightopia. He continued walking until he saw something. On the ground lay an unconscious blond haired girl wearing a long sleeve, aqua-green dress, blue tights, and white dress shoes. He quickly ran over to the girl, wondering if she was okay. He softly shook her. The girl groaned and opened her eyes.

"Hey are you okay?" Derek asked.

The girl's green eyes made contact with his blue eyes.

"I-I think so. Where am I?" she replied.

"Well you're in my dream world. Though you're the first human I've seen here." he stated.

He held out his hand and helped her up. She was thankful that it was quite dark in the caves or otherwise Derek would have seen the blush that crept on her face.

"By the way I'm Derek." he greeted with a smile.

"I'm Elise. Nice to meet you." she greeted back also with a smile.

Elise looked back and forth at her surroundings before frowning.

"These caves look the same. I need to get out to return to my world so I can help my friend." Elise said in a worried tone.

Just then she froze upon realization. She actually considered Illia for friend. Now she has no idea what might have happened to her.

"Don't worry I'll lead you out of here." Derek offered.

Elise's eyes sparkled with hope.

"You would?" she asked.

"It's the least I can do." he replied with a smile.

Instantly Elise hugged the brown haired boy tightly and began thanking him. Now it was Derek's turn to be thankful that Elise didn't see the blush that had formed on his face. Elise let go of him and smiled. He smiled back and took her hand tightly. The two twelve year-olds began traveling though the caves, walking side by side, holding hands, with smiles on their faces.


End file.
